The Latest News Headlines

Federal authorities and Butler Township police are investigating after an explosive device was placed inside a mailbox and detonated, according to police. >> Read more trending news The explosive device, which police believe was a commercial-grade firework, was detonated and destroyed the mailbox sometime between 7 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. Wednesday, Butler Township Police Chief John Porter said in a media release. Police did not say what road the incident occurred on but described the area as a rural part of the township. “Since tampering with a mailbox is covered under federal law, federal authorities have been notified and are participating with us in a joint investigation,” Porter said. “Our initial investigation shows there is no indication of any type of hate or bias crime at this time.” Authorities continue to investigate.

The sister of a Minnesota woman accused of killing a stranger to steal her identity in Florida last year is now facing criminal charges of her own after investigators say she grew angry at her intoxicated son and ran him over with her SUV. Cynthia Lea Grund, 58, of Salem Township, was jailed on suspicion of second-degree assault and reckless driving. Olmstead County Jail records indicate she has since been released. >> Read more trending news Olmstead County deputies were called Monday evening to Grund’s home, where they found her 37-year-old son, identified by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as Jason Finstad, suffering from significant lower body injuries, a Sheriff’s Office news release said. The man had been run over by a vehicle. Investigators determined that Grund had run over her son with a 2004 Ford Explorer, the news release said. According to detectives, Finstad was very intoxicated when he began walking down the rural driveway to go to a friend’s house. His mother and stepfather no longer wanted him staying at their home. Grund drove down the driveway to pick Finstad up and drive him to the friend’s house, the news release said. Finstad refused to get in the SUV. “Why don’t you just run me over,” he allegedly said before lying in the driveway in front of Grund’s vehicle. “Grund then backed the vehicle up and intentionally ran over the victim,” the news release said. “Grund admitted to her actions and at one point made a comment to the effect, ‘He didn't believe I would. He has been drinking all day. We gave him a chance.’” Grund was taken into custody at the scene. >> Related story: ‘Losing Streak Lois,’ killer grandma wanted in 2 slayings nabbed near U.S.-Mexico border Finstad underwent surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester to repair damage to his pelvis. He also suffered head injuries in the incident, investigators said. He was in fair condition as of Tuesday, the Star Tribune reported. According to the newspaper, Grund is the sister of Lois Ann Riess, 57, of Blooming Prairie, who is being held in Florida on a charge of first-degree murder in the April 5 slaying of Pamela Hutchinson, 59, of Bradenton. Riess was arrested April 19 on Texas’ South Padre Island after a multistate string of crimes that investigators allege began with the shooting death of her husband, David Riess, 54, at their worm farm. Saturday will mark a year since David Riess’ decomposing body was found. Authorities said David Riess had been dead for several days by the time his body was discovered. The Star Tribune reported last month that a .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun found in Lois Riess’ Texas motel room matched shell casings found at the scene of her husband’s death. Dodge County investigators have turned their case over to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office for review. Lois Riess, who authorities nicknamed “Losing Streak Lois” for her penchant for gambling, fled south to Florida -- stopping at a casino on the way. Riess’ abandoned Cadillac Escalade, which Minnesota investigators alleged she left the state in after gunning down her husband, was found in a park in Fort Myers, Florida. Surveillance footage from a restaurant two blocks from Hutchinson’s borrowed timeshare condo showed the victim chatting with Riess at the bar on April 5, the day authorities believe she was shot to death. Hutchinson’s body was found four days later in the bathroom of the condo. See the footage of Lois Riess chatting with Pamela Hutchinson below, courtesy of the Fort Myers News-Press. Investigators believe Hutchinson was killed so Riess could assume her identity. They also believe Hutchinson was shot with the same gun that killed David Riess. According to Riess’ Florida indictment, Lois Riess stole credit cards, money, jewelry, sunglasses and other property from Hutchinson after she was killed. Surveillance footage from Hutchinson’s condo complex showed Riess walking into the parking lot, getting into Hutchinson’s Acura TL and driving away. The indictment also alleged that Riess went to a Fort Myers bank and used Hutchinson’s identification to withdraw $5,000 from the dead woman’s account before leaving town. Riess was next spotted the following day at an Ocala Hilton hotel, where she used Hutchinson’s identification to check into a room, Lee County officials said. She stayed there the nights of April 6 and 7, according to investigators. Surveillance footage from inside and outside the hotel showed both Riess and the stolen Acura. According to the News-Press, a white straw hat Riess wore in the footage belonged to Hutchinson. While in Ocala, Riess is accused of withdrawing another $500 from Hutchinson’s bank account. From there, Riess is accused of making her way west across the southeastern U.S., making several stops in Louisiana -- including at another casino -- before being seen driving the Acura around Corpus Christi, Texas. She attempted to get $200 from Hutchinson’s account at a gas station, but the effort failed, the News-Press reported. Riess used her own ID to claim a $1,500 jackpot at a Louisiana casino, the newspaper reported. Riess remained at large until April 19, when she was arrested on South Padre Island in Texas. Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose said a man recognized Riess when she walked into a restaurant on the island, located about 25 miles from the Mexican border, and looked at a menu. Riess did not stay to eat at the restaurant, identified as Dirty Al’s Seafood, but the man called police to report the sighting. A South Padre Island police officer and a federal marshal responded to the area and spotted the white Acura that had been stolen from Hutchinson at another nearby restaurant, the Sea Ranch. Riess was taken into custody as she sat at the bar inside, eating a meal and chatting with fellow patrons. She was subsequently extradited back to Florida to face charges in Hutchinson’s homicide. Riess was indicted June 6 in the case, according to court records. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in Hutchinson’s slaying.

Police announced Thursday a plan to re-test evidence from decades-old child murder cases that rocked Atlanta in the late '70s and early '80s. >> Read more trending news Mayor Kiesha Lance Bottoms and police Chief Erika Shields made the announcement Thursday at a news conference. From 1979 to 1981, at least 25 young black men and children were killed in areas around Memorial Drive. Bottoms said she remembered hearing about the horrific crimes as a 9-year-old, and felt robbed of an innocent childhood as a result. “It may be there is nothing left it be tested,” Bottoms said. “But I do think history will judge us by our actions and we will be able to say we tried.” The operation will be a joint one, with authorities from the Atlanta Police Department, Fulton County and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation using modern technology in examining the evidence. Bottoms started thinking about taking a renewed look into the murders after speaking with the mother of one of the victims. Applying modern technology to the crimes of 1979 to 1981, she said, will assure the families that “we have done all that we can do do to make sure their memories are not forgotten and, in the truest sense of the word, to let the world know that black lives do matter.” Authorities have for decades suspected Atlanta native Wayne Williams was the killer who terrorized the city. He is serving life for murder convictions in the deaths of two adults in Fulton County, though he’s never faced charges in any child’s death. After his conviction, authorities in Fulton, where the vast majority of deaths occurred, announced they were closing the child homicides case because they were convinced Williams was guilty. Five cases from the same period are open today in DeKalb County because of disagreements through the years among various officials about whether the deaths should be attributed to Williams. DeKalb police told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in late 2017 that the investigations were inactive. Some of the victims’ relatives have questioned whether officials rushed to judgement by suggesting Williams was guilty in all the murders. Williams, who was a cocky young freelance photographer at the time of his arrest in 1981, has long maintained his innocence. Thursday’s announcement comes at the same time as a media blitz around filmmaker Will Packer’s forthcoming documentary on the cases, which is soon to air on the Investigation Discovery Channel.

A pair of Boeing 737 Max 8 jets that crashed shortly after takeoff in recent months from Indonesia and Ethiopia lacked two key safety features because they were considered optional extras, The New York Times reported Thursday. >> Read more trending news Authorities continue to investigate the causes of the Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashes, but similarities between the disasters pointed to possible issues with the planes’ stall-prevention systems, called MCAS, according to The Wall Street Journal. The software system can, in some circumstances, point the nose of the plane down to avoid an aerodynamic stall, The Associated Press reported. >> Boeing 737 Max 8: Transportation secretary asks for review of FAA certification A pair of optional Boeing safety features might have helped pilots determine if the system was giving erroneous readings and pushing the nose of the plane down without cause, the Times reported. One of the optional upgrades would have displayed readings from the plane’s sensors while the other, called a disagree light, would have been activated if the sensors were pulling conflicting information, according to the Times. Boeing officials plan to make the disagree light a standard feature on all new 737 Max planes, the Times reported, citing an unidentified source. The sensor reading display will remain optional. >> Ethiopian Airlines crash: Captain reported issues shortly after takeoff Neither feature has been mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the Times. Boeing officials are expected to complete a software update to 737 Max anti-stall systems by Monday, according to the AP. Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration are expected to certify the company’s changes and its plans to train pilots on the system within the next two months, the AP reported. >> Photos: Ethiopian Airlines crash kills 157, including 8 Americans The Journal previously reported the update had been planned in the wake of October’s Lion Air crash, but work was stalled by disagreements over technical and engineering issues between Boeing and FAA officials. The update was also set back by the five-week government shutdown sparked in December by President Donald Trump’s demand for funding to build his border wall, according to the Journal. Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in October shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 189 people. Less than five months later, on March 10, Ethiopian Air Flight 302 crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157 people. >> Lion Air jet with 189 on board crashes in sea off Indonesia; no survivors expected As investigations into the crashes continue, authorities worldwide have grounded Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

Three men have been identified following the theft of a claw machine from a Walmart on U.S. 1 in St. Augustine. St. Johns County Deputies say on March 12th, a repair man arrived to service the claw machine at the store when he noticed it was missing. A Walmart employee told Deputies that someone called the store and said they were picking up the broken claw machine for repairs. They reviewed surveillance video, and Deputies said three people were seen taking the machine. They were not repairmen. The legitimate repairman told Deputes that a similar incident happened in Gainesville. The men were seen driving an older, white Ford F-150.

10 things to watch as Congress returns to work

Posted: 6:33 pm Sunday, May 6th, 2018

By Jamie Dupree

After a week back home, lawmakers in Congress return to Capitol Hill this week with unfinished work and promised legislative action piling up on a variety of fronts, as White House calls for action on immigration are getting little traction, and the two parties continue to clash over investigations of the Trump Cabinet and Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

Let’s take a look at what’s on the agenda for Congress, and what lawmakers missed while they were out town.

1. More Stormy weather ahead? Since members weren’t on Capitol Hill last week, one thing GOP lawmakers didn’t have to talk about much were the latest revelations involving President Donald Trump, and legal settlement payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. But once members are back in the halls of Congress, reporters will be swarming them like bugs chasing you around the yard on a warm, humid, summer day. After comments made by Rudy Giuliani, it’s still not clear what President Donald Trump knew about the payments to Daniels and when. And Giuliani didn’t seem to clear that up on Sunday, either.

2. Immigration legislation? What immigration legislation? While lawmakers were gone, President Donald Trump again called for action in Congress on immigration. But while many GOP lawmakers have said they want to do something to tighten laws dealing with illegal immigrants in the U.S., there is not a majority in the House for a get-tough measure backed by the President – just as there wasn’t close to a majority in the Senate for an immigration plan backed by Mr. Trump. Meanwhile, supporters of DACA in both parties are trying to get votes on a bill they want – but GOP leaders have resisted such a move. The White House keeps arguing for action – but nothing is expected any time soon – if at all.

Our Southern Border is under siege. Congress must act now to change our weak and ineffective immigration laws. Must build a Wall. Mexico, which has a massive crime problem, is doing little to help!

3. The drip, drip, drip continues on Scott Pruitt. I’m sure it’s happened before, but the number of critical stories that keep emerging about EPA chief Scott Pruitt doesn’t seem to stop. Last week, four top officials left the EPA – some under scrutiny, some not, as Republicans led by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) said they would keep pressing for answers about how Pruitt has dealt with personal security costs, raises for employees and more. Meanwhile, the lobbyist couple who rented Pruitt a room for $50 a night, last week paid a $2,034 fine to the District of Columbia, for not having a license to rent the room. Pruitt will be back on Capitol Hill later this month for more hearings with lawmakers. So far, his job still seems secure.

5. Expect more battles over Russia probe documents. Republicans in the Congress keep pushing the Justice Department to turn over documents related to the current investigation on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Last week, members of the House Freedom Caucus made it known that they might press for the impeachment Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in a dispute over documents. On Sunday, there were further reports that GOP lawmakers might threaten Attorney General Jeff Sessions with contempt of Congress for not handing over documents from ongoing investigations. Many Democrats argue this goes hand-in-hand with attacks by the White House on the probe of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

7. The House chaplain mess. As members of the House left Capitol Hill in late April, word was just out that Speaker Paul Ryan was pushing out House Chaplain Patrick Conroy – for reasons that never really were clear. Was it a prayer that weighed in on how tax reform might impact the poor? Was it an inability to minister to more-southern GOP lawmakers? There were some rumblings from within GOP circles of a dissatisfaction with Conroy, and rumblings of dissatisfaction with having a Catholic in that post, because that person would not be married and/or have a family. What’s ironic about that is the House never had a Catholic and/or Jesuit chaplain until 2000. Last week, the Speaker reversed his decision on Father Conroy, but it raised a lot of questions about why it was happening in the first place.

8. Congress waits on a new VA Secretary. While the attempted ouster of the House Chaplain was a mess, that paled in comparison to the turmoil involved in President Trump’s choice for someone new to head the VA. With White House doctor Ronny Jackson no longer in the running, the President has evidently been reviewing a new batch of candidates – one of them includes former Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), who retired from the Congress after the 2016 elections. Miller was chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, but while he was popular with members of both parties, the politics of the VA are going to be rough – no matter what. These two tweets are a perfect example.

9. One less case, maybe one more for the Ethics Committee. With the surprise resignation of Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA), who was under an ethics probe related to a sexual harassment settlement involving a former employee, the House Ethics Committee no longer has jurisdiction over the Meehan matter. When Meehan resigned, he said he would repay a $39,000 taxpayer funded settlement within thirty days. (One should note that ex-Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) promised to repay an $84,000 settlement, but has not.) While the ethics panel no longer has jurisdiction over either of those cases, now there are calls to review a matter involving Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-CA). Last week, Cardenas said that he is the unnamed politician accused in a new lawsuit, which says that a then-teenage girl was possibly drugged and fondled in 2007. Top Democrats immediately called for an ethics review on Saturday.

10. Countdown to another shutdown showdown? Yes, the work is underway in the House and Senate Appropriations Committees on funding bills for 2019 – but it seems unlikely that Congress will be able to finish those spending measures on time, by September 30. Since Congress overhauled the budget process in the mid-1970’s, lawmakers have finished their budget work on time just four different times – 1976, 1988, 1994 and 1996. That’s it. While there is an agreement on the budget limits for next year, the clock is ticking. Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) has been on Twitter for weeks making that point, urging lawmakers to revamp the budget process. My recommendation to fellow reporters on Capitol Hill would be to avoid planning major vacation time in early October.

72 working days until the next gov’t funding deadline. Congress hasn’t done a budget for FY19, so we’re headed toward the same train wreck of CRs & a massive omnibus. I’m going to keep calling this out until Congress works up the political will to change direction. #NoMoreCRs